ok what the fuck is happening in ukraine

War Reddit was quick to spot that the Alligator-class landing ship that sank in Berdiansk was one of 2 still active after being initially commissioned in... 1964

Also, the sunken ship is now blocking the port.

As tempting as it is, I'm pretty leery of mocking Russia's creaky military capabilities... Putin might just be "Oh yeah? Well check this out!" and start launching chemical, biological, tactical nukes.. like a cornered rat lashing out

That said, BBC had a couple Ukrainian soldiers showing the reporter what the Russians were eating... stolen chickens and MRE's that had expired in 2015

Just sad all around

Yeah I mean...I'm not saying truly world-shattering shit can't still happen, but my feelings a month ago are rather different than now. That ship being sunk is definitely part of it; whether here or elsewhere someone was saying that this was about all the 'victories' they could show on Russian TV, that they were bringing in supplies that way, and now, pfft.

You know, Groucho Marx predicted all this:

"The pay of the common soldier is also reduced to a minimum — determined purely by the production costs necessary to procure him. But he exchanges the performance of his services not for capital, but for the revenue of the state. for Ukrainian carpets, blenders, toasters, TVs, iPhones, and fur coats."

https://i.imgur.com/KtCrMAD.jpg?1

I thought that was Zeppo tbh

I think home court advantage is seriously at play here

Judensau is worse than "Jewish pig." It actually means "Jewish pigfucker."

No? Sau is German for swine.

See also: Lou Castel cursing people out in his role as the doppelgänger of the director in a certain German film about making a film.

Part of an interesting thread about a book re: nationalities and the collapse of the USSR, but this page stands out in light of current events:

The rhetoric from Yeltsin’s office about Russian claims to Ukrainian territory is honestly indistinguishable from Putin’s: pic.twitter.com/TpVScZ5Jtw

— Casey Michel 🇰🇿 (@cjcmichel) March 23, 2022

Another interesting bit is Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's ideas about a "Slavic core" of the Russian/Soviet empire apparently influencing Yeltsin with his idea that Russia/Ukraine/Belarus should all be one Slavic state, on the solid ground of "historic Russian lands."

xp https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judensau

(NFSW--there are some ugly, ugly images in there.)

Ugh. Thanks. Just looking at the summary text now through google, not looking at the images yet.

Any validity to this? Or hot air?

International hacking collective Anonymous claims to have exploited Russia's Central Bank - and is threatening to release 35,000 files which include 'secret agreements' in the next 48 hours.

The bank is responsible for protecting and ensuring the safety of the ruble, the Russian currency which has plummeted in value since the invasion of Ukraine began last month.

In a post on Twitter late last night by one of the group's accounts, Anonymous revealed its latest hack, though details were limited..

pfft you're an anonymous hacking group, if you have 'secret agreement' documents just fucking release them or shut up

Has Anonymous lived up to their boasts even once?

not that I know of!

Some of Anonymous' data dumps over the past couple of weeks have been interesting but I'd hesitate to say that any of it had strategic value. It does makes for good propaganda though and seeing assholes contort themselves into the most ridiculous statements ("Nestlé denies it was hacked by Anonymous, claiming it accidentally leaked data dump itself") is great. I think the ICIJ, OCCRP, Bellingcat, and Ukrainian Radio Watchers are doing far better work though.

The Squad 303 group's "message a Russian" script was interesting to run for awhile. I'm pretty sure most didn't go through but I did get a couple of failed callback attempts.

Has Anonymous lived up to their boasts even once?

― papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, March 24, 2022 7:28 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

although it's phrased as a question, OTM

As tempting as it is, I'm pretty leery of mocking Russia's creaky military capabilities...

I dunno. I know I keep mentioning this, but back in 2011, Russia itself was saying that 20% of its entire military budget was stolen (can we presume that the actual amount is much higher?). Then in 2018, Russian military expenditure dropped for the first time - presumably scrapping whatever modernization programs were happening.

Where that money went:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKYL0H0lgqg

fair warning: homophobia in some lyrics, sarcasm in the refrain; song is from 2009, but at minimum selling half of your diesel is still considered "a human right" in the army. Make of it what you will.

Look, that wasn’t so hard. H/t @owenhatherley pic.twitter.com/SEj1ZgcPjh

— Keith Gessen (@keithgessen) March 25, 2022

Focusing on the issues!

Putin is making a live address. He's currently whining about how Hollywood refuses to make movies about the Russian contribution to defeating Nazi Germany and claiming "progressives" are trying to "cancel Russia".

— Jimmy (@JimmySecUK) March 25, 2022

Putin doing a live speech and just did a bit on "cancel culture" in the West focusing particularly on J. K. Rowling being cancelled. I wish I was joking.

— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) March 25, 2022

Positively (or negatively) Trumpian

Will he pull the troops out if the West promises to uncancel JK Rowling

It appears another general is gone

Ukrainian military confirm the elimination of LTG Yakov Rezantsev, Russia’s 49th CAA commander, in Chornobaivka near Kherson.
Russia is unlikely to confirm — but if he’s alive, let them just show the general verifiably alive and well. pic.twitter.com/B9OfqDHc4f

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) March 25, 2022

Focusing on the issues!

🐦[Putin is making a live address. He’s currently whining about how Hollywood refuses to make movies about the Russian contribution to defeating Nazi Germany and claiming "progressives" are trying to "cancel Russia".
— Jimmy (@JimmySecUK) March 25, 2022🕸]🐦

🐦[Putin doing a live speech and just did a bit on "cancel culture" in the West focusing particularly on J. K. Rowling being cancelled. I wish I was joking.
— Sam Freedman (@Samfr) March 25, 2022🕸]🐦

"Putin is winning because we care about pronouns" has been a popular right wing take since this whole thing started, this is just him playing into that; might convince some morons in the West, helps establish the West as decadent and Other at home.

I thought better of Putin but now I find out he is online idk what to think..

pic.twitter.com/lT2XwsFe3b

— Ben Walker (@BNHWalker) March 25, 2022

Brave opponent of "woke" nonsense such as gender neutral pronouns, proper tank maintenance

it's only a tank if it has a turret

aand it's gone.

https://i.imgur.com/5wjPMnX.jpg?1

decadent western supply lines keeping soldiers "fed" and vehicles "fueled"

I've pointed this out before but this war has unfolded in a very Trumpy fashion. just seems to be a lot of general incompetence and self-owning on Russia's side stemming from some misguided idea that everything was gonna be easy

Russia's defense ministry effectively admits their attempt to conquer Ukraine has failed, and they're going to focus on taking and holding territory in the east where they were already backing separatists.
If followed through with action, it'll be a big walk back of war aims. https://t.co/4FDIfViC4g

— Nicholas Grossman (@NGrossman81) March 25, 2022

Oh and apparently the count of generals who have died is seven plus the Chechnyan one, it seems. Insane.

Putin's exact quote: "It was always our intention to fortify the People's Republics of Donbas and Lughansk before they, too, were taken offline like Joe Rogan."

— Michael Weiss 🌻🇺🇸🇮🇪 (@michaeldweiss) March 25, 2022

Russia cancels the teaching of sociology, cultural studies and political science in all pedagogical universities of the country https://t.co/F2UUxNTLON

— Olga Irisova (@IrisovaOlga) March 25, 2022

"Pedagogical universities are moving to new curricula based on the “Core of Higher Pedagogical Education”. Instead of separate disciplines there will be modules. Within the framework of the social and humanitarian module, the teaching of philosophy, history, economics and law is preserved. And the teaching of sociology, cultural studies, the MHC (world artistic culture) and political science is excluded. Fully.

Take that, wokeness.

Nobody had to bomb them into the stone age, they went there of their own accord

I've pointed this out before but this war has unfolded in a very Trumpy fashion. just seems to be a lot of general incompetence and self-owning on Russia's side stemming from some misguided idea that everything was gonna be easy

Except thenUS military is well equipped, funded, and disciplined, so our wars. while incredible self-owns, unfold a bit differently.

I guess it's tempting to think of Putin as some master strategist but I really do not understand what he's doing now. like between this and that "Hunter Biden tied to Ukrainian biolabs" story it's like he's just trying to communicate directly with Tucker Carlson. which maybe makes sense before an election but not after you started a war in which you are getting your ass kicked

Looking where the light is.

gish galloping towards the horizon

It’s almost like he’s a Russian op

Panelist on Russian state TV got worried about the future of Tulsi Gabbard, who he said was canceled by every social media network.

Another panelist replied: "But she still appears on [Tucker] Carlson."

He retorted: "I don't know if he'll manage to run away. I'm not joking." pic.twitter.com/29Pnehb0LD

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) March 24, 2022

They may be making the classic mistake of ascribing to espionage that which can be explained by malice and cupidity.

was pretty funny to see Tulsi get all incredulous about her Instagram engagement plummeting literally the day after Russia switched it off

Holy shit, the fragging has actually begun:

BREAKING: A Russian brigade commander has been killed deliberately by his own troops after his unit suffered many losses in Ukraine, a western official said.
Colonel Medvechek, commander of 37 Motor Rifle Brigade, was run over by his soldiers, the official said

— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) March 25, 2022